Giving their all:

Self-sacrificing is another trait commonly used to people working in this field. The empathy is crucial, the self-sacrificing tendency has the potential to be a real downfall. Passionate people who give their all is another descriptor commonly described by participants as being a contributor to both their success and their difficulties staying afloat. These are caring people who tend towards placing the needs of others before their own. The message that they need to care for themselves in order to care for others hits home on a logical level, but goes against the grain for people for whom putting their needs first is foreign.

We need to remember and be wary that some people will just keep responding if we keep asking them. Dr Rob Gordon - Consultant psychologist in emergency recovery

Even if you are a victim at the same time you put your own trouble aside and concentrate on supporting others and forget about supporting yourself. This is true not just in the hospital situation, true elsewhere too. Akiko Sasaki – Ishinomaki Red Cross Hospital

People in this field put others' needs first and their needs second. Dr Tomoko Osawa – Hyogo Institute for Traumatic Stress

It is really uncomfortable for people to allow themselves to think about themselves and not the people they're supporting. Jodie Bowker – formerly of EACH, Victoria

People say I should slow down, and I know I should. But that's not how I am built. How do you slow down a speed boat? Brad Quilliam - Kinglake Ranges Business Network

I think that personal factors which can negatively affect a support worker are a sense of self-sacrifice, an overweening sense of justice, and inflexibility. If a support worker form gets caught up in these factors, then that person will not be able to carry on with the job and lead a healthy life for very long. Kyoko Nakatani - Psychologist, Kobe